Executive Assistant to COO

Position Grade: 4

THE AREA FOUNDATION

The Area Foundation serves as the community’s most trusted and impactful philanthropic partner, managing more than 500 charitable funds totaling $1.3 billion in assets. Coordinating efforts with numerous area nonprofits, the Area Foundation serves as a collaborative leader, connecting donors to address key community issues and investing in our future. Since 1964, over $900 million for scholarships and grants have been awarded to close opportunity gaps for those who need it most in San Antonio. Learn more about your community foundation at saafdn.org.

Our core values are Excellence, Passion, Integrity, and Community.

SUMMARY OF RESPONSIBILITIES

The Executive Assistant to the Chief Operating Officer serves as a trusted administrative and operational partner to the COO, providing high-level executive support, project coordination, workflow management, and cross-departmental follow-through. This role supports the effective operation of the COO’s office by managing priorities, preparing materials, coordinating communications, tracking action items, and helping ensure operational commitments move forward in a timely and organized manner.

 KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

Executive & Administrative Support

• Manage the COO’s calendar, scheduling, and meeting logistics, ensuring alignment with organizational priorities.
• Prepare agendas, materials, presentations, and follow-up documentation for meetings.
• Handle correspondence, emails, and communications on behalf of the COO with professionalism and discretion.
• Maintain accurate filing systems, records, and databases (digital and physical).
• Other duties as assigned.

Project & Operational Support

• Manage and coordinate executive and cross-functional projects on behalf of the COO, ensuring timely execution, stakeholder accountability, and alignment with organizational priorities.  
• Monitor project progress, identify potential risks or delays, and proactively escalate issues to the COO for resolution.
• Track deadlines, deliverables, risks, dependencies, and follow-up items across operational and cross departmental initiatives.
• Facilitate follow-up communications and accountability with stakeholders to ensure commitments are completed on schedule.
• Prepare reports, summaries, dashboards, briefing materials, and documentation for leadership, board, committee, and internal planning needs.
• Support operational projects related to facilities, HR, Learning and Development, staff meetings, culture initiatives, policy updates, and organizational planning.

Supervisory/Team Coordination Responsibilities

• Supports onboarding, training, and ongoing guidance to ensure consistency in operational processes, customer service standards, and internal administrative support.
• Monitors work progress, provides feedback, and escalates priorities or performance concerns to the COO as appropriate.
• Helps ensure coverage, responsiveness, and continuity across front desk, operations support, meeting logistics, and administrative workflows.

Stakeholder Relations

• Serve as a liaison between the COO’s office and internal staff, board members, and external where applicable.
• Support the COO in fostering a collaborative, responsive, and service-oriented workplace culture.

Organizational Operations

·       Assist with vendor and contract management, expense tracking, and budget support as applicable.

• Coordinate operational workflows and communications across teams as directed by the COO.

·       Provide administrative support as needed to Operations Department.

·       Provide backup support to front desk and support coverage planning as needed.

QUALIFICATIONS

Education & Experience

• Bachelor’s degree preferred; equivalent combination of education and experience will be considered.
• Minimum 5 years of experience in executive support, senior administrative support, operations coordination, or project support; nonprofit, foundation, or missions-driven experience preferred.
• Prior experience coordinating workflows, tracking action items, supporting senior leadership or providing lead/supervisory guidance preferred.

         Knowledge, Skills, & Abilities

• Exercise sound judgment in prioritizing requests, communicating on behalf of the COO, escalating issues, and protecting confidentiality or sensitive information.
• Coordinate operational workflows and communications across teams as directed by the COO as needed.
• Ability to anticipate needs, identify gaps, and recommend process improvements to support a responsive and well-coordinated COO office.
• Actively participate in collaborative Business Planning (CBP) by working across departments, maintaining accurate project information in Monday.com, and supporting organization-wide priorities through timely collaboration and shared accountability.
• Ability to adapt to evolving technologies and organizational systems, including a commitment to continuous learning and applying new tools, platforms, and processes to support the Foundation’s mission.

CORE COMPETENCIES

• Commitment to Mission & Values: Demonstrates alignment with the Foundation’s mission and core values of Excellence, Passion, Integrity, and Community.
• Executive Support & Judgment: Anticipates needs, manages competing priorities, protects confidentiality, and exercises sound judgment in support of the COO.
• Operational Coordination: Organizes workflows, tracks commitments, supports cross-departmental follow-through, and helps improve administrative processes.
• Communication & Relationship Management: Communicates clearly and professionally with staff, leadership, board members, vendors, and external partners as appropriate.
•  Team Support & Accountability: Provides guidance, coordination, and support to operations staff as assigned, promoting consistency, responsiveness, and service-oriented support.

PHYSICAL DEMANDS / WORKING CONDITIONS

• The physical demands and characteristics of the work environment described here are representative of those occurring in the performance of the essential functions of this job. 
• Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. The employee occasionally may lift and move up to 40 pounds.

The San Antonio Area Foundation is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

Please visit https://saafdn.org/careers/ to submit your application and resume.